Instead of stepping down, he just plain fell down, until, sprawled in the grass, his back felt like it had been slammed, which it had, and his left leg was screaming at him.
He winced against the pain and the hot, clammy feeling all over him.
Cal was over him in an instant, helping him up, giving him the once over, his eyebrows high in his forehead.
“Anything broken?” asked Galen, coming up to them both. “That was quite a fall.”
“Just wrenched my leg, is all,” said Zeke.
It was more than that. He was out for the count if Cal decided to visit his tent later that evening. Plus, with Cal hovering as he was, there was no way he was going to be able to slink off to the bodega to buy anything for Cal, let alone a bouquet of flowers or even a party-sized bag of Bugles.
Zeke stiffened and tried to stand up on his own, but his thigh muscles had stretched in the fall and now they were clamping down as if they meant never to let go. He felt the rain down the neck of his shirt and saw his cowboy hat in the mud.
Cal bent to pick it up and held it between two hands, looking at Galen the entire while. As if waiting for the moment when Galen would step aside and Cal could take over.
“Don’t fuss.” Zeke almost snapped the words at Galen, then paused. “Sorry,” he said. “I just need to lie down for a bit, is all.”
“We’ll have Cal help you to your tent,” said Galen. “Got any muscle relaxants?”
“Yeah.” Now the word was ground out, because he’d be alone with Cal, and if Cal hovered and worried about him, that would be just fine with him.
“I’ve got him,” said Cal as he gently placed the hat on Zeke’s head.
He was shielded from the rain then, but not from Cal’s big blue eyes looking him over, those hands reaching out to take Zeke’s arm and loop it around his waist.
It was when Cal put his arm around Zeke’s back, a solid, firm embrace, and Zeke could finally take a full breath.
Cal would help him back to his tent, and then Zeke could recover in peace. This had happened before, and he knew what to do. Take those muscle relaxants, lie on a bed or sit in a chair, whatever felt best, and wait it out. By morning, he’d be fine. It’d happened before. He’d be fine.
Much to Zeke’s surprise, supporting him the whole way, Cal guided him to his tent as the rain picked up, and a cool windwhipped the air. By the time they got to the tent, they were both soaked.
“We need to dry off,” said Zeke as he sank onto his cot, dripping everywhere.
“Dry clothes, those meds,” said Cal, a little bossy, though his hands were gentle as he unbuttoned Zeke’s shirt.
Zeke batted Cal’s hands away, and undid the shirt himself, stood to peel off his boots and wet jeans, and sank onto the cot again.
Cal brought him a dry t-shirt and some sweatpants that he’d dug out of Zeke’s box of clothes, and then stood handily by as Zeke changed into them. Never once did Cal make Zeke feel like an inconvenience. He found Zeke’s pills, under Zeke’s direction, and brought over the arnica cream he’d found.
“That’ll be for the morning,” said Zeke. “Thanks, though.”
“I’m going to get you some water for those pills, and also a little dinner.” Cal stood close and wiped the rain out of Zeke’s hair with a towel.
“Just go to dinner,” said Zeke. “I’m fine.”
“I’ll get you set up first,” said Cal, and that’s exactly what he did, in spite of Zeke’s protests.
He settled Zeke in the cot, then ran to get a bottle of water, and after that, he ran again—all of this in the rain—to bring a to-go box of baked lasagna for Zeke’s dinner. “They had ice cream, if you wanted some.”
“No, I’m fine.”
He was fine, even if his leg was killing him, the length of his back sticky with sweat. Even if he felt a tad overwhelmed at the tenderness of Cal’s concern.
This wasn’t the first time Cal had taken care of him though, and, as he’d taken care of Cal, there was a balance. A good one. But he didn’t want Cal to neglect himself, either.
“Go get your own dinner,” he said, pointing the plastic fork at Cal. “I’m all good here. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Okay,” said Cal. He carded his fingers through Zeke’s still-damp hair and kissed his forehead. “See you in the morning.”
